Baby Got Back

My anaconda don't want none unless you've got credible sources hon.

Brian Williams has moved on from rapping "Gin and Juice" and "Rapper's Delight" to lending his dulcet tones to the pinnacle of human achievement, "Baby Got Back." But is it better than "Baby Got Book"?

Sadly, Becky was not in attendance.

If for some reason you needed proof that Sir Mix-a-Lot's love letter to the derriere has become a respected cultural touchstone, here it is! This past weekend the poet of the posterior performed Baby Got Back with the Seattle Symphony, and damn...he did not have to ask for volunteer dancers twice.

You all listen to the Judge John Hodgman podcast, right? RIGHT? Good. In case you missed last week's episode, it featured one of the greatest moments in the show's history. The show is hosted by occasional Daily Show correspondent, professional PC, knower of all things, and eccentric millionaire John Hodgman with co-host "Bailiff" Jesse Thorn. Hodgman sang the cover of "Baby Got Back" featured in an episode of Glee that was stolen from Jonathan Coulton, who was in the audience. Hodgman and Coulton are friends, and unlike Glee, Hodgman at least gave Coulton implied credit.

Here's a quick recap for those who haven't been following this story: Indie musician Jonathan Coulton recorded a cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" back in 2005. This year, the television program Glee also did a cover of "Baby Got Back," but they didn't cover Sir Mix-a-Lot -- they covered Coulton's version of the song without crediting him. Then they aired it. Then they started selling it on iTunes, all the while refusing to acknowledge that it was Coulton's version. Now, Coulton has put his version up for sale as well, but unlike Glee, he's donating all the proceeds to charity after giving Sir Mix-a-Lot his cut.

Ah, Glee. Can you get any worse? The answer to that question, for those playing along at home, is an unequivocal "yes, though not much." It came to light last week that an episode called "Sadie Hawkins" would use a version of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" song. That version, unfortunately, turned out to be Jonathan Coulton's specific arrangement and even lyrics. Well, now it's aired and, yup, it's basically JoCo's version. Even worse, Glee apparently thinks they did the man a favor by using it.

No. No no no no no no no. no.

Well, they aired it, seemingly unchanged. And it’s now for sale in the US iTunes store. They also got in touch with my peeps to basically say that they’re within their legal rights to do this, and that I should be happy for the exposure (even though they do not credit me, and have not even publicly acknowledged that it’s my version – so you know, it’s kind of SECRET exposure). While they appear not to be legally obligated to do any of these things, they did not apologize, offer to credit me, or offer to pay me, and indicated that this was their general policy in regards to covers of covers. It does not appear that I have a copyright claim, but I’m still investigating the possibility (which I consider likely) that they used some or all of my audio. I’ll write something longer and more detailed about this when I can get my head together about it probably in a couple of days. Thanks for your support, but please continue not to burn anything down. -- Jonathan Coulton, in a recent update to his blog.
Last night Glee returned after a holiday hiatus with the episode "Sadie Hawkins" and a soft-rock version of "Baby Got Back," that is unmistakably nerd-rocker Jonathan Coulton's soft-rock version of "Baby Got Back." The musician updated fans and readers of his blog this morning with this information on Fox and Glee's really absurd notion that "exposure" is his payment despite the fact that they have so far refused to publicly credit him with the arrangement. If Coulton hadn't already had a strong, connected fanbase, nobody might have noticed that he'd been ripped off.

We think it's safe to say that Glee's propensity for taking classic songs and mutating them into teenybopper renditions that stab away at both our ear drums and patience knows absolutely no bounds, but it's still -- as much as we hate to say this -- 100% legit given that the original artists willingly sign away their souls to the show's executives for their thirty pieces of silver. Today, however, it was discovered by geek culture's favorite singer/songwriter, Jonathan Coulton, that what Glee wants, Glee will most certainly take without so much as permission and proper licensing. The show has apparently given a take on Coulton's cover version of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" practically verbatim, and the singer and his army of fans are up in arms over the show's apparent audacious and ill-conceived move.

it's time to play the music

Though the story is still developing, there isn't really another way to put this: it looks an awful lot like one of the songs Glee is planning to include in its soon-to-be-returning fourth season is a soft-rock cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back." In fact, it's a very specific soft rock cover of "Baby Got Back." Nerd singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton's cover. Which wouldn't otherwise be a problem, except that Coulton himself was never actually contacted or asked about whether it could be used.
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